HRDAG’s Year in Review: 2023
In 2023, HRDAG continued to learn from our partners about resilience and patience.
Announcing New HRDAG Advisory Board Member
Elizabeth Eagen of the Citizens and Technology Lab at Cornell University will expand the HRDAG advisory board.
Tech Note
Using large language models for structured information extraction from the Innocence Project New Orleans' wrongful conviction case files.
Exoneration documents, secured during legal proceedings that aim to right the wrongs of justice, are invaluable for understanding wrongful convictions. They cast a spotlight on law enforcement actions, revealing systemic challenges. Yet, finding and leveraging usable information within these collections remains a formidable task for researchers and advocates, due to their volume and unstructured heterogeneity.
This post introduces ...
Human Rights and the Decentralized Web
Our partners were eager to learn and talk about emerging decentralized technology.
HRDAG and Boston PD SWAT Reports
HRDAG worked with the ACLU of Massachusetts to review Boston PD SWAT reports (these are the reports filled out before and after tactical and warrant service operations) made public under the 17F order, which requires the Mayor of Boston to release information about the Boston Police Department’s inventory of military-grade equipment, such as mine-resistant ambush-protected armored vehicles, designed for use in Iraq.
Investigating Boston Police Department SWAT Raids from 2012 to 2020
HRDAG collaborated with Data for Justice Project on a tool tool allowing members of ...
Remembering Scott Weikart
HRDAG’s core values all have a connection to Scott Weikart, 1951–2023.
Making Missing Data Visible in Colombia
Valentina Rozo Ángel has worked with HRDAG and the Colombian Truth Commission to acknowledge victims of the 50-year conflict who are not visible or easily counted.
Can the Armed Conflict Become Part of Colombia’s History?
Paula Amado and María Juliana Durán Fedullo reflect on how the Truth Commission may change Colombia’s history, finally officially acknowledging the 50-year conflict and its casualties, and reckoning with who did what to whom.
In Colombia: HRDAG and Dejusticia on the Importance of Missing Data
It’s inevitable that databases will have information gaps, and special care must be taken to account for these gaps.
HRDAG and the Allegheny Family Screening Tool
The Associated Press published an article about an investigation that HRDAG and the ACLU have been working on for more than a year. The article explains how the ACLU became involved in an examination of a tool that relies on artificial intelligence to predict which children could be at risk of harm. The tool is used by the Department of Human Services and the child welfare system in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Both the ACLU and the Department of Justice became concerned that the Family Screening Tool, as it is called, was “forever flagging” parents with disabilit...
Quantifying Police Misconduct in Louisiana
HRDAG contributes to the project by helping to classify, filter, extract, and standardize the records so that they can be useful in the database.
HRDAG Welcomes Two New Scholars
Paula Amado has joined as a Research Scholar, and María Juliana Durán Fedullo has joined as a Visiting Scholar.
HRDAG’s Year in Review: 2022
This past year at HRDAG has been about continuing efforts to uncover the truth.
Analyzing patterns of violence in Colombia using more than 100 databases
The institution’s objectives were to learn the truth about what happened during the armed conflict.
Lessons at HRDAG: Holding Public Institutions Accountable
Principled Data Processing is a way to prove to someone, usually yourself, that what you did was right.
HRDAG Retreat 2022
A week in the California redwoods amongst a hodgepodge of people united by their passion for using quantitative analysis to combat injustice.
Analizando los patrones de violencia en Colombia con más de 100 bases de datos
El objetivo de esta institución temporal es conocer la verdad de lo ocurrido en el marco del conflicto armado.
HRDAG Welcomes New Staff, Interns and Fellow
HRDAG is delighted to announce five additions to our team: one new staff member, three summer interns, and one fellow.